Stop Glorifying George W. Bush

For whatever reason former president, George W. Bush, has magically become a person that everyone is holding to high regards. Maybe it’s because he was less overt (but not really all that much) than our current “president,” Agent Orange. From becoming a cute, funny meme on social media, to getting an appearance on the Ellen Degeneres show for just being so gosh darn cute n’ funny with that poncho at the inauguration – people (and a lot of them) are listening and siding with him. Did we all forget about his exceptionally horrific eight years in the oval office, though?

George W. Bush facilitated the climate of not only the nation, but the world we live in today. I really did not realize that all it takes to erase a complete and utter genocide of a people was a “cute, funny” meme of George W. Bush struggling with a poncho. Where were y’all from 2001 – 2009? Even I was just a child, but I will never be able to forget the horrors this man caused to the world, including the United States. Horrors so immense that they drastically influenced the course of world events for the coming years. I’m not here to give you a history lesson on everything this man did in his terms, but I will not hesitate at the chance to remind everyone of the destruction he caused.

“Did we all forget about his exceptionally horrific eight years in the oval office, though?”

I don’t even want to get into the entire mess of details that was 9/11. I will point out that he was president of the United States during that time. The immediate Islamophobic hate crimes that followed directly after that day, were unprecedented. George W. Bush didn’t really do much to alleviate the racism either, if anything he created this “us vs. them” dichotomy, which only strengthened and further pushed ignorant people to act upon their “fear.” It doesn’t take a psychologist to figure that one out. On September 20th, 2001, only 9 days after the events, Bush coined the term, “War on Terror.” Since then, the Bush administration and western media utilized this term to legitimize U.S. militaristic force as a means to “fight” the “enemy.” The “War on Terror” wasn’t just a nice pairing of words; it was literally a military campaign that was able to strategically gain many Americans’ support in “defeating” terrorist organizations. Of course, this consequently led to a surge in profiling and attacking of Muslims living in America, ultimately creating a strong divide between the people. This divide still exists prominently today.

Immediately following the events of September 11th, 2001, the Bush administration passed the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act lawfully allows the U.S. government to wiretap and increase surveillance on any person in the nation that seems “fishy” under their standards. When was this act signed off and legalized? A month after 9/11. The unusually rapid legislation of this bill is highly unsettling. What’s even more questionable is that government officials only had one weekendto read this extensively complex bill. Of course, no one can make a quick and clear judgment on such an intricate bill, so most officials just voted to pass the law (because it was easier). In addition to this, the feeling of instability in people after 9/11 heavily influenced any just reasoning. The Patriot Act goes against everything that the Constitution stands for. The law implies a new crime deemed as “domestic terrorism”which ignites ideas that the enemy is in our own home, our own nation, and they need to be annihilated. Although the USA Patriot Act is very complex, it is not all that clear, detailed, or specific. According to various sections throughout the bill, almost anything can be considered criminal or terrorist activity. That’s how wildly vague it is. There have been so many instances where peaceful activists have been subjected to and deemed under “criminal activity,” simply because that’s what the Patriot Act entails. The line between “terrorist” and actual civil disobedience is really blurred within the contexts of the law. I could honestly go on about the insanity that surrounds this legislation, but we have more horrendous ground to cover. Is Bush still “innocently cute” with his poncho, though?

This crusty old white man also legalized the No Fly List. The No Fly List was created directly after the attacks of 9/11 as well, banning certain individuals from being able to fly on an aircraft. Sound familiar? This list was solely created by certain people in the U.S. government who claim that anyone on the list has some kind of relation with terrorist organizations. At first the list was fairly short, consisting of only sixteen names. However, by 2004, over ten-thousand names had been added to the list. Even famous Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan was held and questioned extensively at U.S. Immigration due to his name being on the list. All of this occurred within the first few years of the 2000s, and yet it all sounds awfully too familiar.

The Patriot Act and No Fly Lists are just the preliminaries before Bush ensued even more destruction to the world. Do the words, ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ ring a bell? In 2003, the Bush administration illegitimately declared war on Iraq solely based on false accusations that the nation possessed “weapons of mass destruction.” They used this as an excuse to invade and dismantle the country. Except it turns out Iraq didn’t have any of these so-called “weapons of mass destruction,” and Congress sure as hell knew that. It was just a big ol’ lie to feed the public to legitimize the war and garner “support” from the American people – and it worked. The war in Iraq had about 1 million causalities – and that’s a very conservative estimate. Not only did the illegitimate invasion of Iraq literally kill hundreds of thousands of people, but it also heightened the racially charged climate around the world, especially in America. Mosques were being terrorized, Muslim women became initial targets for hate crimes, and the entire climate within the states shifted into hating the “Muslim world” (whatever the hell that is). George W. Bush quite literally orchestrated a genocide and y’all still want to make him into some dumb meme and call him “cute?” Please stop.

Shifting away from the terror Bush implemented on Muslims, Arabs, and South Asians, let’s not forget about the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. The tropical storm destroyed New Orleans in 2005. Black people populated the areas that were severely affected. During this time, U.S. troops were invading Iraq, trillions of dollars were funding this illegitimate war, while thousands upon thousands of American people lost everything they had and were struggling to survive. Barely any aid was coming to these people at all. They didn’t even have access to basic necessities like food and water. Black people were literally dying on the streets and their own nation was pouring efforts and money into an unnecessary war. I was only like 11 years old when it was all happening, but I can never erase those images from my mind. Kanye West spoke the truth when he said exclaimed on live national television that – “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.” It’s true. These black folk are still struggling in New Orleans to this day because of the lack of help they were given in the most devastating natural disaster that hit the country. Also, Bush doesn’t believe in global climate change just like a particularly orange man doesn’t either.

“George W. Bush quite literally orchestrated a genocide and y’all still want to make him into some dumb meme and call him ‘cute?'”

I honestly could go on and on about the corruption implemented and caused by the Bush era, but I hope you get the point. Regardless if he gave his two cents on how he’s “against” Agent Orange’s policies, that really doesn’t mean crap when his policies weren’t any better and I would argue that it is because of the Bush era that our nation and world is how it is today. This also goes for Obama’s atrocious policies as everyone parades around loving the guy as if he’s an angel, but I digress. Stop making this old racist murderer white man a stupid meme. Stop glorifying him and erasing his horrendous, inhumane legislations. He really ain’t that cute.

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One thought on “Stop Glorifying George W. Bush”

I totally agree with this post 100%! George Bush’s presidency has been a catalyst for Donald Trumps election. I have no clue why people have suddenly started to glorify him, it’s honestly so cringeworthy